


it's not easy being green

by ohvictor



Series: Natsu Shiyouze [2]
Category: IDOLiSH7 (Video Game)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Tanabata, canon typical yamato
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2020-06-26 18:29:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19773916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohvictor/pseuds/ohvictor
Summary: On the way home from a weekend trip, the members of IDOLiSH7 make Tanabata wishes.





	it's not easy being green

**Author's Note:**

> o/ hello!! i was invited to i7mas round 2 to fill archie's spot as yamato, and i'm very happy to be here and to work on this project!!
> 
> ummm a few notes! this is set roughly near the end of part 2. there are some implications that are only clear if you've read early part 3 (thru ch 5 ish), but i don't think it's hugely spoilery given i7's foreshadowing. the "canon typical yamato" tag, and the T rating, are for yamato's thoughts about it, so be careful!

Yamato follows Sou off the shinkansen, remembering only belatedly to pull his facemask back over his mouth. He’d left his prescription sunglasses, the other half of his disguise, on during the ride, in spite of (or maybe _because_ of) Mitsu saying they made him look douchey. With these things on his face, and his hair pushed back, he looks enough like a stranger that when he catches his reflection in the shinkansen window, in the middle of looking back to wait for the rest of his unitmates like a good leader, he doesn’t recognize himself. 

What a great feeling to have at 21:00.

With most of IDOLiSH7 off the train, stretching and yawning on the platform beside him, Yamato stops looking back into the depths of the carriage and orients himself to his surroundings. He’s been to this station before—after all, it’s one of the biggest in Tokyo—but IDOLiSH7 passes through a lot of train stations. This one has an ice cream shop on one of the lower levels that he remembers Nagi likes. Given the late hour, though, it’s probably closed now.

Reliably, Ichi already has his phone out, thumbing through the station wifi login page with practiced ease. When Yamato peeks over his shoulder, he sees Ichi is looking up the local train schedule. 

“We’re not too late to make it home, are we?” Yamato asks.

“Definitely not.” Ichi pulls up the schedule and scrolls to the way bottom. “The last train is at 23:30, and it’s only 21:00. If we hurry, though, we can make the 21:10—”

“I have to pee,” Tama drawls, slouching off the shinkansen last. 

“There were bathrooms on the train,” Ichi reminds Tama.

“Train’s for napping. Station’s for peeing.” Tama claps Ichi on the shoulder. “You know where the bathrooms are, travel expert?”

“Well, I have eyes,” Ichi says, pointing to a sign overhead with a bathroom icon and an arrow. “So no 21:10 train?”

“I’d like to use the bathroom too,” Manager says, swaying slightly with a suitcase in each hand. The whole unit is sharing these two suitcases, packed with clothes and costumes for their weekend of shows, and yet it’s her who remembered to haul them off the train. Yamato, feeling guilty, reaches out to grab one of the handles, and she gives him a grateful look. “Ah, Mitsuki-san, if you could watch the other suitcase...”

“Yeah, no problem.” Mitsu takes the handle, pulling it closer to him. The suitcase is half as tall as he is, and when Yamato catches his eye, he knows Mitsu’s aware of it and _daring_ him to comment. 

“Anyone _else_ have to use the facilities,” Ichi sighs, tucking his phone back into his pocket with as much exasperation as a seventeen-year-old can inject into one simple motion. Ichi is very good at that, Yamato’s found.

“I’ll go,” Riku says, even raising his hand as if he’s volunteering for something. His other arm is wrapped protectively around his stomach. He had, actually, gone to the bathroom on the train several times, which Yamato knows because Riku had been his seat partner, and he’d had to crawl across Yamato’s legs enough times to spoil Yamato’s shinkansen nap. Not that he’s sore over it; it’s hard to be angry at Riku. 

“You doing okay?” Yamato asks him.

“Yeah!” Riku nods, which is a bold thing for someone who keeps using the bathroom to say. 

“We’ll all go,” Sou offers. “That way, we stick together.”

His eyes don’t drift towards Tama as he says this, but Yamato catches the implication anyway. 

“Cool.” Tama starts heading in the direction indicated by the sign, his arms folded behind his head in a carefree gesture. The rest of IDOLiSH7 lags behind him, Yamato and Mitsu bringing up the rear as they roll the suitcases over the tiled floor with satisfying clacking sounds. Walking in the supposed direction of the bathrooms takes them out of the shinkansen arrival chamber into one of the main halls of the station, where Yamato instinctively scours the high ceilings adorned with banners for ads for idol units. This time, it’s just beauty products. Most of the shops lining the sides of the passage are closed, with the exception of FamiMart; not that he needs anything right now, anyway. 

Another lit-up bathroom sign leads them down a side hall, and then finally to twin rooms bearing women’s and men’s bathroom signs. Riku makes a beeline for the men’s room, and Tama and Nagi wander after him. Manager diverges for the women’s room. This leaves the rest of IDOLiSH7 to wait outside. The suitcases aren’t really sturdy enough to sit on, but Yamato tries anyway, hoping that inside his is just clothes and not anything breakable. Mitsu shoots him a dirty look. 

Behind them, Sou is exploring the rest of the hall. Yamato watches him pick up a brochure from a tall rack, thumb through it, and then politely put it back. It’s probably meant for tourists, which they are not, so maybe Sou is just bored. Yamato’s about to call out to him to come back when Sou turns back to him, pointing excitedly at something on the other side of the brochure rack. 

“They have a bamboo plant set up here for Tanabata,” he calls. “Did you know it’s that soon?”

“Time is fake,” Yamato says. More out of boredom than actual interest, he strolls over to Sou, dragging the suitcase after him. Ichi looks up irritably at the unexpected noise. Both Izumi brothers giving him annoyed looks in the span of two minutes; that must be a new record. As Yamato moves around the rack, he sees Sou’s target: a tall decorative pot with an arrangement of bamboo branches in it, and a table beside it with blank papers, pens, and string to make tanzaku. The bamboo already has a handful of tanzaku hung on it, and Yamato leans closer to read them. “Any good wishes on it, Sou? Any lewd ones?”

“Yamato-san,” Sou scolds, “you shouldn’t read other people’s wishes!”

“They put them up on a public tree in the middle of a train station,” Yamato says defensively, “so it’s fine.” He reaches for the first one he spots with legible handwriting, holding it flat so he can read it. Since the writing is neat, he had hoped it would be from an adult, but it seems to be just an older student; they’re wishing to be in the same class as a close friend. It’s sweet, Yamato thinks. 

“What’s everyone wishing for this Tanabata?” Mitsu hides a yawn behind his hand, his eyes half-lidded as he looks between Yamato and Sou.

“Ahh, I don’t know...” Predictably, Sou struggles with the question. If it were an interview, he’d have a quick but fake answer ready to go; Yamato’s watched him perfect his idol personality, even given him advice. When it’s someone in his own unit asking, though, that sort of answer won’t do. “Maybe... Well, there’s a lot to consider, isn’t there?”

“You could wish for more than one thing!” Mitsu’s curiosity is getting the best of him now, and he joins Yamato by the potted bamboo, looking at some of the tanzaku. 

At this Ichi gets distracted too, wandering over to join them by the bamboo. “Nii-san, that’s a waste of paper...” 

“It’s fine, it’s fine! The station can just put out more.” Mitsu picks up a paper and holds it out to Ichi. “Iori, what’s your wish this year?”

Ichi does not take the paper. “Wait, we’re actually making wishes? Isn’t that a little...” 

Behind them, the men’s bathroom door swings open, revealing Tama. His hands are visibly still wet from washing, and he’s wiping them on his pants. Yamato looks at Sou just in time to see him cringe. 

“What are you guys doing,” Tama says, shuffling over to join them by the bamboo plant. “Ohh, tanzaku.” He reaches around Mitsu and grabs a paper, which immediately gets wet. 

“Tamaki-kun,” Sou says, his voice strained. “You need to dry your hands.”

“There weren’t any paper towels,” Tama says immediately, as if he expected to be questioned, “and I don’t like hand dryers.” He picks up a pen, which also gets wet. “What did you wish for, Sou-chan?”

“I haven’t— We were just looking,” Sou explains quickly.

“You can write a wish if you want,” Yamato tells Tama.

“Yeah! I’m going to write a wish,” Mitsu says, claiming the paper he’d offered Ichi. He writes something on it carefully, holding the paper close to his chest so no one else can read it. “No peeking~”

“We’ll all be able to see it once it’s on the tree,” Yamato reminds him.

“Yeah, but then it’s different.” Mitsu makes the last stroke on the paper and takes a string from the basket. He loops it through the hole in the paper and ties it carefully onto the bamboo branch, positioned so that the writing faces away from the gazes of his unitmates.

“There,” he says proudly. Next to him, Tama nods, and starts writing something on his own paper. Mitsu looks up at Yamato. “Yamato-san, what are you wishing for?”

Yamato pretends to think about it for a moment. “I got it, Mitsu. I’ll wish for twenty cases of beer.”

“Rejected!” Mitsu slaps his arm. 

“You can’t write that on a paper that kids will see,” Sou says. 

“I know, I know.” Yamato pats Sou’s arm. “I’m an idol, remember? I make kids happy, not confused about alcohol.”

“Hmm.” Sou doesn’t look convinced, but he turns his attention to Tama, who’s attaching his wet tanzaku to the bamboo. “What did you write, Tamaki-kun?”

“I wished for good grades for me and Iorin.”

“You don’t need to put in a wish for me,” Ichi insists, although Yamato notes his cheeks are a little pink.

“It felt rude to only wish for my grades when you’re in class with me,” Tama explains. “And if you’re not wishing, I have to put in something for you.”

“What about me, huh,” Yamato teases.

Tama shrugs. “Adults can make their own wishes.”

“You’re wise beyond your years, Tama.”

“What are you all doing?” Now Manager has emerged from the bathroom, her hands adequately dried. 

“Making wishes!” Mitsu picks up the whole basket of papers and holds it out to her. “What’s your wish this Tanabata, Manager?”

“Ah?!” Manager gingerly takes a piece of paper from the basket. “So sudden... Do you have a pen?”

“I want a paper too, Mitsuki!” Nagi says from behind Manager, who yelps at the sudden noise. Nagi laughs and snakes his arm around her to take a paper from the basket before Mitsu can take it back.

“Did you leave our center in the bathroom alone?” Mitsu asks Nagi.

“Ah! I asked if I should wait with him, but he said it’s fine.” Nagi spreads his arms in an overdramatic shrug. “Pen, Mitsuki?”

Mitsu reaches back to the table and finds Manager and Nagi each a pen. The two of them press their papers against the wall for a flat surface to write on, and start working. In the lull of activity, Ichi takes his phone out again, and Mitsu turns back to Yamato.

“Come on, old man, I know you have a wish in there.”

“I’m too old for that.”

“Yamato-san—”

He’s interrupted, thankfully, by Riku, hurrying out of the bathroom with a pained expression. “Ahh, I’m sorry I took so long! We can go now!” Seeing the rest of his unit clustered around the bamboo plant, he comes over to investigate. “What’s this?”

“We’re making tanzaku.” Nagi shows him his. “I’m wishing for happiness and success for IDOLiSH7!”

“Eh?” Riku leans over his shoulder, reading what Nagi’s written on the paper. “This is about a limited edition Magi☆Kona box set, though—”

Nagi slaps his free hand over Riku’s mouth. “SHH!”

“Nagi,” Mitsu scolds, “if you’re going to wish for something else, don’t lie about it!”

“I’m sorry,” Nagi says, but he ties the paper onto the bamboo stalk all the same.

As the rest of IDOLiSH7 finishes their tanzaku, or argues about them, Yamato forgets to pay attention. He’s tired, and the question Mitsu asked sticks in his mind like a leaf to a windshield - what he could wish for. What he _should_ wish for. Twenty cases of beer would be nice, for sure, but if the others are going for earnest (Nagi aside, although he supposes Nagi’s is earnest too in his own way), Yamato shouldn’t disappoint. 

Except that there isn’t really something Yamato can seriously wish for that he’s okay with these kids seeing. Things are heating up; it’s summer, so, obviously. But with _that_ , too—the secret. Yamato’s thoughts tiptoe carefully around it like a bomb that, if touched, could go off and ruin his mental state for the rest of the night. There are a lot of things Yamato could wish for with regard to this secret; in the past twenty-two years, he’s wished recklessly for most of them already. Selfish things, scenarios where he saves his own sorry ass and nothing else. Or where the people who’ve hurt him get what’s coming to them, in various satisfying ways. Or even for it to disappear miraculously and take every rotten memory with it, every whisper he wasn’t meant to hear, every reminder that his life, his being, his worth, is only a pile of dirty secrets. 

The only wish that comes to mind now, watching these people who’ve opened up a space in their arms for him, this unit that he feels welcome and cherished in, is something he’s never dared to wish for before. He doesn’t have a paper to write it on—wouldn’t dare write it and pin it to a bamboo stalk in the middle of a public train station—but Yamato wishes desperately, selfishly, for safety.

For IDOLiSH7, for these precious people, to come through all of this okay. Whether Yamato himself can be by their side in the end or not. He’s dirty, but they aren’t. 

Ah, even without touching the bomb directly, he seems to have put himself in a bad mental space anyway.

“Yamato-san?” 

Riku’s voice is very close to Yamato’s ear, and he jolts, spinning towards the noise. “Riku?”

“Are you okay? You seemed really lost in thought.” Riku touches his arm, smiling reassuringly. “If you’re not going to make a wish, we’re all ready to head out.”

“Everyone else made a wish,” Tama informs him. When Yamato looks, the bamboo does look a little more densely populated with tanzaku than when they’d first discovered it. “Even Iorin.”

“You wrote mine for me,” Ichi corrects.

“As Leader, my wish is just to support all of yours.” Yamato waves a hand, and reaches for his suitcase handle. “Let’s go. I’m tired.”

“Some of you are so unromantic,” Mitsu sighs, giving Ichi a pat on the shoulder with his free hand as he, too, pulls his suitcase behind him. “You’re allowed to have childish or selfish wishes at Tanabata!”

“Is that why you wished to grow taller?” Nagi says.

“That’s _not_ what I wrote!” Mitsu kicks at his heels.

The rest of IDOLiSH7 laughs, falling into the easy rhythm of walking and bantering back and forth. Yamato finds himself laughing along, which makes his chest feel lighter. Even if he didn’t write down a wish, he meant what he said about supporting the others’ wishes. Well, it’s not like he can help Nagi get Magi☆Kona items, or make Mitsu suddenly grow (or whatever he actually wrote down), but there’s other things — spending time together, making them feel valued — that he knows, or at least hopes, that he can do. 

At least for now, that’s enough. And even if his own secret wish doesn’t come true, maybe Mitsu’s right. It’s okay to wish for something selfish during this time of year. 

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading!! please check out the other fics in this series! also, i am on [twitter](http://twitter.com/futarinoshoutai)!


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